


Breaching the Contract

by TrainRush



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21613480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrainRush/pseuds/TrainRush
Summary: Originally planned to be a oneshot book, but then I went off and did other things. Now featuring just one (1) fic.
Relationships: Hat Kid & Snatcher
Comments: 10
Kudos: 61





	Breaching the Contract

Snatcher cackled as he sent another flurry of light beams towards Hat Kid. That corrupted Time Piece that he’d gotten a hold of earlier… until now, he’d had no clue of its strength! It went the extra mile in making his attacks all the more deadlier — his beams of light now echoed with shockwaves when they hit the stone floor, and his shadow clones of the kid were now made useful by attacking her! Everything was playing out beautifully in his favor. 

It was clear that the brat was not ready for the force she was pitted against. With almost every attack, she’d slip and get a nasty bruise from one of his attacks. The clones would slice her, the beams would sap her energy, and their shockwaves would knock her to the ground. It was hilarious, really, how she ran about in his shadowy cage. Helpless, frightened, and vulnerable. Any misstep now, and Snatcher would finally be able to reap her soul!

The brunette hopped and ran about, narrowly avoiding a row of Subconites that nearly pummeled her. Her clothes were soaked in blue ink from the many potions that had hit, and her porcelain skin was covered in rough scratches and giant bruises. She stopped, slowing down and panting after every attack, but he never gave her enough time to fully recover her strength. He’d never win if he let _ that _happen.

Snatcher was so close now, he could almost taste her soul. She was stumbling about, dizzy from the pain and blood loss, only barely moving enough to dodge his attacks. He knew what he had to do: he sent a spiraling attack of his beams. She needed to move quickly to dodge this one, and she didn’t have the footing to! He was brilliant!

Indeed, the hatted child tripped and fell forward in her feeble attempt to dodge the attack. Without enough time to recover, the shadow beams first hit her legs, immobilizing her, and then hit her head.

She screamed in pain, clutching her head and rolling over onto her side. A mixture of the blue potions and blood were streaked on the stone where she had once lay.

Snatcher grinned. The deed was finally done!

**“Had enough, kiddo?” ** he called out gleefully, gazing at the small, beaten figure on the ground. He cackled again. **“I can’t believe it was really that easy! You’re ** ** _pathetic, _ ** **kid.”**

The pathetic kid in question didn’t respond.

**“C’mon! That can’t be all you’ve got! Get back up and put on a ** ** _real _ ** **fight!”**

Hat Kid tried to prop herself up to her elbows, but her shaking limbs and the sheer pain of all the injuries she had sustained wouldn’t allow it. She sunk back down to the ground, tears flowing from her sky-blue eyes.

Snatcher frowned in dismay. Did he seriously win _ just like that? _Could he take her soul now?

The second question was easier to answer: no, but she looked like she was only one attack away from dying. He just couldn’t believe it. Was he really that powerful, or was the kid really that weak? He wanted to opt for both, he realized that both only made his loss in their first showdown look more pathetic. It just didn’t make _ sense. _

**“Wow. You’re really just ** ** _accepting _ ** **death, huh, kiddo?”**

Snatcher wasn’t sure what he was procrastinating for. His opportunity was here! Now! He could kill her, take her soul, and ensure that his rule over Subcon Forest would last forever! Yet here he was, frowning over Hat Kid’s limp body and taunting her instead of seizing the moment.

The ghost growled. That wasn’t right! Why wasn’t he doing anything? She should be dead! Gone! She needed to be gone! Rid of! _ Just get rid of her already! _

He snapped.

Snatcher sent another beam of light. And then another. A couple of potions.

**“You want to die so badly?” ** He wheezed a laugh. **“Then DIE!”**

The spirit continued his onslaught. He threw as many potions as he could carry. He summoned as many beams as he could summon. He even brought out his Subconites once to trample her!

Yet, afterwards, when his breathing became heavy from overexertion…

He still did not see her soul. But he could feel it. It was so loose now — a simple shove away from leaving her body. This surprised the spirit. How was she not dead already? Those attacks should have...

Snatcher could hear sniffling and crying. A few faint whimpers resounded from the small child before him. She wasn’t dead, but she was suffering. A lot.

He picked the kid up by her cape for a second. Quickly, in that second, he realized that her cape was torn beyond repair and not stable to hold her by, so the ghost instead held her in the palm of one of his clawed hands. She fit there quite comfortably.

Carefully, Snatcher stretched his thumb over her figure and onto her chest. He could feel her heartbeat. Slow, quiet, and also unsteady. The kid was practically knocking on Death’s door.

It was a long while before the ghost realized that he had brought the small, injured child close to his shadowy form. In his odd fixation of watching the kid, Snatcher’s thoughts were quiet and unintelligible. Murmurs, at best. He didn’t know why he didn’t just swipe his claws across her throat and kill her now, but…

Hat Kid’s eyes fluttered open, her gaze landing on him. The child’s cyan eyes contained so much emotion: fear, sadness, pain, and yet even more indecipherable feelings shone with the blue orbs. They reminded him of something. They reminded him of some_ one. _

_ His gold eyes helplessly gazed into Vanessa’s. What had he done to deserve this? Why was she hurting him? He had done nothing wrong— _

_ She screamed at him again. Her words were incomprehensible among the ringing in his ears as she slammed his head into the cellar wall behind him. Tears of pain streaked over the dried lines already on his cheeks. He felt so weak… so pathetic… _

Hat Kid’s eyes reminded him of _ his own. _

Snatcher felt his breath catch in his throat.

This wasn’t right.

What on _ earth _had he become?

…

He couldn’t let the kid die.

Snatcher turned around and shouted at his Subconites to go find Moonjumper, wherever he had run off to. He was going to get Hat Kid some bandages, even if he needed his annoying acclaimed “brother” to sew them for him. And maybe, while he was at it, he could convince the lunar specter to stitch up some of her wounds. That would help, right?

He glanced back at the small child in his hands, who had since fallen back unconscious.

He hoped he wasn’t too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! My name is Rift, and this is a book for me to store my shorter works (shorter meaning less than 3000 words)!
> 
> Here you will find...  
\- Songfics (I am doing a challenge where I must complete 40, all based on Vocaloid songs),  
\- unfinished WIPs (which will be rare, since I only have one in the back (which I will eventually post)),  
\- and responses to reader-submitted prompts! (Submitting a prompt is easy: just comment a headcanon or a scenario below and I’ll pick one to write about! Submit as many as you’d like!)
> 
> Eventually, some of these works will contain sensitive content. They will be marked as such for their respective warnings.
> 
> The chapter summaries will be formatted as follows:  
Title: [title]  
Word Count: [word count under 3000]  
Submitter (IF READER-SUMBITTED PROMPT): [user name]  
Tags: [tags]  
Warnings: [warnings]
> 
> One last thing: so that I may begin my Vocaloid songfic challenge, please comment a number 1 - 40! I will be choosing one of your numbers randomly and writing about that number song on the playlist!
> 
> Thank you for reading!  
\- Rift


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